Little fact lovers, let me introduce you to Angela Yvonne Davis!
She is an American feminist political activist, Marxist, philosopher, and authorš²!!
She is also a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz!
She was also a founding member of the CCDS or Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism!
So, let us discuss some interesting facts about this interesting person, Angela Davis!
Amazing Angela Davis Facts
Birmingham: The Birthplace of Angela DavisĀ
Hey there, little fact-enthusiasts, did you know that Davis took birthš¶ in Birmingham, Alabama?
She was born on January 26, 1944, and was christened at her fatherās Episcopal church!
Angelaās family resided in the āDynamite Hillā neighborhood! This place was marked in the 1950s by the bombings of houses! It happened in an attempt to drive out middle-class black people!
Davisās siblings include a sister, Fania, and two brothers, Ben and Reginald!
Davisā parents were Frank Davis and Sallye Davis.
Education of Angela Davis
Angela grew up in Alabama and studied at LREI high school!
Later, she moved to Massachusetts and attended Brandeis University on a scholarship!
She was one of just three black students at Brandis Universityš«!
Later, she became a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego!
During her early education, Angela worked part-time to cover the expenses of visiting Switzerland and France to attend the 8th World Festival of Youth and Students held in Helinski!
Later, she got her Doctorate in Philosophy from Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, and returned to America as a professor!
Angela Davis was an acolyte of the famous leftist philosopher Herbert Marcuse
I am really surprised to learn this amazing secret about Davis! Want to know?
Herbert Marcuse, a German-American sociologist, philosopher, and political theorist, was Davisā teacheršØš»āš«! Amazing, isnāt it?
Davis met Marcuse during the Cuban Missile Crisis at a rally and became his student!
In the year 1964, she started studying philosophy with Herbert!
Herbert was the Marxist philosopher who later sent Davis to West Germany in 1975 to study at the Institute for Social Research!
Davis traveled extensively through the communist world
In August 1972, Angela Davis visited the Soviet Union at the invitation of the central committee! There she got an honorary doctorate from Moscow University!
Later in May 1979, she was awarded the Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union!
The prizeš was awarded to communists and also non-citizen supporters of the Soviet Union!
The award was given by a panel from the government to individuals whom the panel thought to have āstrengthened peace among comrades.ā
Angela was inducted into the National Womenās Hall of Fame
Did you know this interesting fact about Angela Davis?
Quite famous as a civil rights icon, Angela Davis earned her induction into the National Womenās Hall of Fame! Amazing, right?
She dedicated her entire life to the civil rights movement, fighting to secure social justice for women and also equal justice.
Her works always stressed the importance of racial, economic, and gender justice!
Through her scholarship and activism, Angela has been involved in powerful social justice movements around the globeš!
Angela Davis supported the BDS movement against Israel
The BDS, or Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, is a Palestine-led movement!
This movement was working to end international support for Israelās oppression of Palestinians.
The objective of the movement was to pressure Israel to comply with international law.
The PACBI, or Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, is even a founding member of BDS!
It hails Davis for her fight for justice and also expresses its full solidarity with her.
However, Angelaās support for BDS denied her an award for human rights!
It happened after Jewish Americans protested against Angelaās support for the BDS campaign!
In 1972, Davis was acquitted of murder
In August 1970, guns that belonged to Davis were used by black militants in a takeover of a courtroomš§āāļø! This happened in Marin County, California!
The proceedings resulted in the death of four people, including one judge, Harold Haley!
Angela Davis was prosecuted for three capital felonies murder, kidnapping, and even conspiracy!
Later, she was imprisoned for almost sixteen months prior to being acquitted of all charges in 1972!
The reason was the guns she owned were utilized in the crime was judged insufficient to establish her role in the incident!
Angela in 1997: She came out as a lesbian
Little friends, have you heard this unique fact about Davis?
Between the years 1980 and 1883, Davis was married to Hilton Braithwaite!
In the year 1997, Davis came out as a lesbian in an interview with Out magazine!
By the year 2020, she was living openly with her partner, the academic Gina Dent!
Dent was a fellow humanities scholar and also an intersectional feminist researcher at UC Santa Cruz!
Together, they have advocated for the abolition of prisons and police and also for black liberation and Palestinian solidarity!
Angela was named to the Top 10 most wanted fugitives list of the FBI
Davis was placed on the list after investigators knew that Davis had bought the weapons used in the incident of the courtroom šØāāļøarmed takeover!
Davis fled to California when she knew about the latest discovery of the FBI. After a few days, she became the third woman on the Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list by the FBI!
According to Davisā biography, during that time, she hid in her friendsā houses and moved at night!
At last, she was caught on October 13th, 1970, at a Motor lodge in New York!
After her arrest, President Richard Nixon congratulated the FBI officers for arresting a ādangerous terrorist.ā
Davis criticized the 1995 Million Man March for excluding women
On October 16, 1995, Louis Farrakhan organized an event called the Million Man Marchš¶ in Washington, DC.
It was a large gathering of African-American men who wanted to promote African-American family values and unity!
However, this march received criticism from Angela and other feminists!
Davis argued that the exclusion of women in this promoted male chauvinism!
She even added that this event āseeks to make women lesser partners in this quest for equality.ā
Following this event, Davis and Kimberle Crenshaw founded the African American Agenda 2000.
It was a black feminism pact aiming to fight sexism, racism, and homophobia!
Angela was selected as one of the most iconic women
I am quite surprised to explore this fact about Angela Davis!
The womenās suffrage movement was mainly a fight to win women the right to vote in America!
In 1920, the right was finally won in the 19th Constitution amendment almost 100 years! It declared that women deserve equal responsibilities and rights of citizenship!
In 2020, Davis was even listed as the ā100 Women of the Yearā edition of the 1971 Women of the Year in Times Magazine!
There, Angela was chosen as one of the most iconic women over the 100 years since womenās suffrage in the US.
Davis was even fired for her activism and beliefs
In 1969, Angela was fired from $10,000 per year, by the Board of Regents at the University of California, for her membership in the Communist Party, due to a policy against hiring communists!
The board said, it happened due to the statements Davis made in off-campus speeches!
However, her supporters argued otherwise, and said that Angela was fired as she was a member of the communist party!
As the reason for dismissal, the board stuck to Angelaās communist affiliation!
However, a superior court judgešØāāļø in Los Angeles ruled that Angela should not be discharged for being communist! Angela got the job!
Julie Dash directed a biopic of Angela Davis
Want to watch movies about interesting and famous people? Then like me, you will surely love this fact about Davis!
In the year 2019, Julie Dash got the credit as the first black female director who announced that she would direct a film šļøbased on Davisā life! Really interesting, isnāt it?
Brian Tucker would write the screenplay and the producer would be Sidra Smith!
Academic achievements of Davis
In 1975, Davis was a lecturer at the Claremont Black Studies Center at the Claremont Colleges!
However, she had to teachš©āš« in secret as the alumni benefactors didnāt want her to teach the general student population!
In 1978, Davis taught a womenās studies course at the San Francisco Art Institute!
Also, from 1980 and 1984, Davis was also a professor in the History of Consciousness and the Feminist Studies departments at the University of California!
In 2020, it was announced that Davis would be Ponoma Collegeās history departmentās Ena H. Thompson Distinguished Lecturer!
Television appearances of Angela Davis
Let me tell you a really interesting fact about Angela David!
She has appeared in many movies and television series!
Some of those are P-Valley, The Resident, Marvelās Cloak and Dagger, In Prison My Whole Life, Angela Davis; Portrait of a Revolutionary, Malcolm X, Out in the Night, and A Place of Rage! Amazing, isnāt it?
References of Davis in other venues
In the year 1972, Renato Guttusoās painting called The Funerals of Togliatti, depicted Angela among several notable figures of communism!
Later in 1971, black playwright, Elvie Moore, wrotešļø the play known as Angela is Happening!
The play depicts Angela on trial with people like Malcolm X, Frederick Douglas, and H. Rap Brown as eyewitnesses proclaiming her innocence!
In the year 2018, a cotton shirt with Angelaās face was featured in Pradaās collection of the year!
Angela was a supporter of the three inmates who killed Soledad Prisonās prison guard
Little friends, have you heard this unique fact about Davis? No? Let me tell you.
Angela was a strong supporter of the three inmates who killed Soledad Prisonās prison āļø guard! Surprised??
Those inmates committed this act as a prison guard had killed several African-American inmates in a shocking fire!
The book that was written by Angela Davis
Over the years, Davis has written many books šthat have shown readers her opinions about certain topics that influence society!
Some of those books include Culture, Women, Politica, The Meaning of Freedom, Me and My Asthma, Women, Race, and Class, Blues, Legacies, and Black Feminism, If They Come in the Morning, Freedom is a Constant Struggle, etc.
Summing up
So little fact explorers, how are you feeling about knowing so many interestingš² facts about Angela Davis?
We have tried to gather as much information about her as possibleā¦and we are sure that you are satisfied!
Looking forward to getting your views!
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